The prior art discloses numerous systems for creating the surface of a deck, floor, ceiling, wall, or roof. A significant category of this prior art utilizes pre-assembled or modular panels or sections to form the desired surface.
Many references disclose modular flooring systems intended for installation on a flat subfloor. U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,859 to Counihan discloses pre-assembled sections of elongated boards that have a special joint for interlocking them with other identically-fashioned sections. Each pre-assembled section has a groove that receives the tongue of a separate, customized channel strip for joining the sections together. U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,353 to Jones discloses a portable decking system formed from a plurality of flat panels designed to be placed directly on the ground and joined together by separate W-shaped clips. U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,443 to Allazetta discloses a pre-manufactured deck panel designed for installation on a solid foundation. These systems are all designed for direct installation on top of a subfloor, not for installation over a conventional joist substructure.
Other references require the construction of highly specialized custom joist or pedestal substructures. Both U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,792 to Betts and U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,554 to Bryan disclose modular deck structures comprising a plurality of pallet-like flooring sections that are seated on rabbitted ledges or planks recessed within the square frames of a specially-constructed, intersecting joist structure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,267 to Dantzer discloses modular floor panels that are installed on specially constructed square frames that are in turn mounted on posts. None of these flooring systems are designed for installation over a conventional joist substructure.
Yet other references require substantial modifications or additions to conventional joist substructures. Conventional wood joists used for joist substructures usually have a width of approximately 38 mm (1.5 inches). If the square-shaped modular platform panels taught in many of these references installed without the addition of a joist plate or holding bracket, the joists would only support each panel along thin, approximately 19 mm (¾-inch) wide strips.
Accordingly, many prior art references require the preliminary installation of a joist plate or holding bracket. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,715 to Potter discloses a modular panel deck system. But the modular panels require, for their support, a plurality of elongated, 51 mm (2 inch) wide joist plates that must first be fastened to the underlying deck joists. The joist plates have flanges for supporting the modular panels. The modular deck panels are also joined by plurality of elongated spline elements that are mounted perpendicular to the elongated joist plates. U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,880 to Meenan, Jr., also discloses a system of modular deck panels. But, like Potter, Meenan requires the preliminary installation of joist caps to support the deck panels. U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,362 to Marriott et al. discloses an interlocking flooring tile. But Marriott et al. requires the preliminary installation of large U-shaped troughs, on which the downwardly projecting legs of the tiles rest. U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,467 to Snear discloses modular deck members with integral groove portions to interconnect with other deck members along the same, longitudinal dimension as the parallel joists to which the members are affixed. But to join the deck members along the lateral dimension, Snear requires a T-rail be installed between them.
The state of the art would be advanced by a system of modular interlocking platforms that could be mounted directly on, and be fully supported by, a conventional joist substructure without the additional support of joist plates or holding brackets. The state of the art would also be advanced by a modular deck system in which each panel or panel-supporting platform could be mounted to the joist substructure with a minimal number of threaded fasteners. The state of the art would also be advanced by designing a uniformly configured platform panel piece that can be trimmed in pieces and still readily attached to the joist substructure and also support a top decorative layer that is completely flush with the outer edges of the beginning-of-sequence and end-of-sequence joists. The state of the art would also be advanced by new methods for attaching a decorative top layer to a modular decking platform.